5/1 Sunday Accumulator

The first selection in my Sunday accumulator comes from Belgium where we’re looking for a couple of goals between Antwerp and Club Brugge.

Antwerp are the hosts. They’re averaging 2.83 goals per game this season and they’ve had at least two goals scored in 78% of their matches.

At home, Antwerp’s goals average increases quite a bit. Their goals average on home turf is 3.18 goals per game and they’ve had over 1.5 goals scored in 82% of those matches.

As for Club Brugge, they’re averaging 3.09 goals per game and they’ve had over 1.5 goals scored in a whopping 96% of their matches. That’s the league’s best success rate and by some distance. There’s literally no better Belgian top flight side to back for over 1.5 goals.

Over to France for a couple of selections, and the first is Lorient to beat Angers at home.

To provide some context in terms of league positioning, Lorient are 7th and just five points outside of the European places, and Angers are rock-bottom having only taken eight points from 21 played. An abysmal return for any side.

Lorient are experiencing a mixed run of form, but they’ve taken seven points from their last five matches which isn’t the worst return. The two defeats they experienced during that run came away from home.

Lorient have suffered just three defeats from their last 11 matches at home and a couple of those were against Nice and PSG, so hardly devastating losses.

They’re unbeaten in their last two at home, taking four points from Monaco and Rennes, two clubs above them in the league.

Angers are experiencing a horrific run of form. It’s just a sea of red when you take a look at their results. Staggeringly, Angers come into this one having lost an embarrassing 13 league matches in succession.

Away from home, Angers have won just once from their last 20, and they’ve failed to score in their last five away matches in succession.

Next up in France, I’m backing Reims to avoid defeat on their travels to face Auxerre.

Reims are in midtable and the hosts Auxerre are second-bottom of the table and at serious risk of relegation should they follow the current trajectory.

Auxerre’s form is brutal and they’re very similar to Angers in many ways. They go into Sunday’s game having lost seven matches in a row, and they failed to score in six of those seven defeats which must be a huge concern.

At home is where you need to collect points if you’re a minnow trying to survive, and Auxerre have won just one of their last eight matches on home turf.
Reims are experiencing a great run. They haven’t won a huge amount of games, but they’re currently 13 matches unbeaten in the league. Avoiding defeat against PSG twice, and they’ve also held off the likes of Rennes, Lille and Nice.

Next, it’s over to Holland where the prediction is FC Twente to beat FC Groningen away from home.

FC Twente are 5th in the Eredivise and doing well for themselves, Whereas the hosts Groningen look destined for relegation in current form. They’re rock-bottom of the Dutch top flight.

Twente are currently enjoying a run of 10 matches unbeaten in the league, and they’ve suffered just a single defeat from their last 12. Away from home, they’re four unbeaten.

As for Groningen, they’re falling apart. They’re currently on a run of seven successive defeats which is brutal. They’ve also just taken one win from their last 13 matches in the league.

The likelihood of Twente scoring and enjoying some success is high. Groningen have kept just a single clean sheet in their last 14 attempts to do so at home.

Last but not least, we’re headed to Portugal. And it’s a simple selection, just needing Porto to score a couple of goals.

Porto are hosting Vizela, a side they thrashed 4-0 back in December. They’ve won the last five meetings with Vizela, scoring a massive 16 goals in the process.

Heading into this one, Porto are trailing Benfica in the league, but they do have a couple of games in hand. They’re having a relatively decent season still, Porto have conceded just 11 goals all season which means they have the best defence in the league.

To add to that, Porto have scored 43 goals in 18 matches, an average of 2.38 goals scored per game on their part.

Incredibly, Porto have scored two or more goals in 16 of their last 18 matches at home. They’ve won their last three home matches on the spin, scoring at least four goals in each victory: 4-0, 5-1 and 4-1.

Vizela go into Sunday’s match having lost their last two successive away matches 2-1.